I wish to address an issue which I regularly face in my line of web and app development. Though it is along that line, I think my point is applicable to all types of service provider (SP).

The funny behavior is this: if a job/gig/work/task (whatever you call it) takes 3 hours to do it, SP will deliberately delay the job to make it look like 3 days! Why, you may sincerely ask. The answer is simple: it is to give the idea that this job takes THREE DAYS to complete, so it is worth SOOO MUCH so they are rightful in quoting you this amount.

To me, this common-practice is so childish. Not just childish on the SP but also the Service Seeker (SS). Please do not judge the cost of a Job by the time taken by the SP.

Frankly speaking, in my 23 years experience in my line of web site development and later app development, admittedly, I have done it too many times before as well.

Before you judge me, hear my story: A common IT task, say implementing https security on a site. It might take a noobie 3 days to do it. Well, I have been a noobie/newbie before. I had to learn, I had to try, then fail, then try and so on. It took me some days to finally successfully do the job.

So, after 3 days, I say “job done, give me my $x”, the SS will feel satisfied because they think they rightfully paid $x for THREE days of work.

Fast forward to now. I can do the job in just 3 hours. Question of the decade (because I personally find myself discussing this with so many people for a decade I think): Doesn’t the person who did the job faster deserve the better compensation than the one who did it slower?

So, sometimes, I get some not-so-pleasant feedback from clients saying something like “What! I paid this much for just 3 hours work?”. And these are the times I wish I had stuck on to the deliberate-delay drama policy.

But no, I had dropped this deliberate-delay drama policy or politics or whatever you call such thing, and instead just try to stay true to my heart. If I can finish the job fast, I finish and update you fast, so that you can continue your business faster.

Time is money. To you. To me. Deliberate delay is just not right.

I’m just letting out this article because I just had such an episode, and hope this article will help whoever reading it to see my point of view, and hopefully, agree too.